


Good Advice

by Rizobact



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, Genderbending Human Jazz, Human Avatars, Humorous Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Mentions of Canon Human Characters, Roller Coasters, Theme Park Food, anniversary challenge 15, prowlxjazz Anniversary Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 04:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4732139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rizobact/pseuds/Rizobact
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they recharge, mechs can share dreams in a VR simulated world of their choice . A new option just became available - an amusement park on Earth - and Jazz wants to spend a day together as humans in the park with Prowl. Getting Prowl to agree to try it out was easy; convincing him that it's a date is a little harder. Good thing he got some advice from a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Advice

**Author's Note:**

> For the prowlxjazz 2015 Anniversary Challenge on LiveJournal [here](http://prowlxjazz.livejournal.com/926239.html).

Tonight was the night! Teletraan’s DreamServer was finally releasing a new expansion pack, which included amongst its many new VR environments an Earth-style theme park. Jazz had been looking forward to it for months, especially after he had gotten Prowl to commit to join him in checking it out when it launched. The stoic SIC had hesitated over it at first, but ultimately had been curious enough about experiencing one of their human friends’ favorite activates first-hand to give in.

Now the wait was over and they were ready to begin! Jazz finished connecting to his recharge platform, eagerly beginning his usual shutdown procedures and simultaneously sending a login request to the server. His awareness of his frame slowly faded and he ‘felt’ himself appear in his hub room, a glorified loading screen that he had long ago customized to his personal tastes. There was an invitation to link up with Prowl already waiting for him; apparently the black and white Praxian had actually managed to beat him to the berth.

Accepting the invitation created a doorway in one of the walls, which immediately swung open to admit Prowl. Jazz caught a glance of a familiar office behind him as he entered; Prowl hadn’t exercised much creativity in decorating his own hub room, preferring simply to recreate what he knew rather than indulging in the chance to change it up a little the way Jazz had with his more eclectic mish-mash of elements from different worlds.

“I was starting to wonder what was keeping you,” he said, doorwings fluttering slightly in amusement. “As much as you were talking about this all day, I was expecting you to be early.”

“Can I help it if everyone always wants to stop me to chat in the hall?” Jazz grinned. “I told them I was late for a date.”

“A social engagement.”

“Really? Is that what you call it? You better check what edition of the dictionary you got installed, mech.”

“A date implies a romantic appointment. I was not under the impression that this excursion had any such overtones.”

“Come on, we’re going to a theme park as a couple! Don’t you listen to Spike and Carly? That’s what humans do on a date!” Jazz grinned.

“That is not the exclusive reason humans go to such places, nor do they only do so in pairs,” Prowl replied. “Besides, we are not human.”

“We will be in a minute,” Jazz said. “And it’s a date if I say it is.”

“It is only a date if we both agree that it is,” Prowl countered.

“Then I’ll get you to agree by the end of the trip.” Jazz grabbed Prowl’s hand firmly. “You can decide something was a date retroactively, you know. We’ve done it before.”

Prowl smiled indulgently. “If you insist.”

The message READY TO BEGIN SIMULATION? [ YES / NO ] appeared before Jazz had a chance to say anything else however. Looking up at Prowl, they exchanged a brief nod and together selected YES.

“All right! See you there, Prowler!” Jazz beamed as the hub room dissolved around them and they waited for the simulation to begin.

***

Prowl opened his eyes and was immediately forced to squint against the bright sun. A light breeze brushed against his bare arms, keeping the air from feeling overly warm and carrying with it the sounds of laughter and joyful screams. An array of scents was wafting from the park as well, all blending together so he could hardly distinguish the individual parts. Perhaps this was what Carly meant when she said something ‘smelled like a carnival’, this amalgam of sugar and grease and heated blacktop.

As his eyes adjusted he could see the entrance to the park in front of him. Glancing over his shoulder he was impressed to see that the VR world had gone to the length of including a vast parking lot behind them. Tall lamp posts with lettered signs labeled their sections and neat rows of cars stretched back almost to the end of the alphabet. Although there was no actual use for it for them, it added to the completeness of the illusion. He found himself wondering if the family he saw gathered around a blue station wagon, parents currently fussing with a cooler in the trunk and slathering sunscreen on the two children, would appear inside the park later on.

“’S a good thing we didn’t actually have to drive, saves us the trouble of worryin’ about where we parked,” a voice said beside him, familiar in cadence but not in pitch. “You should’ve programmed sunglasses.” Prowl belatedly realized he was still holding Jazz’s hand and he let go as he turned to face him…her.

Jazz’s human avatar was in fact wearing sunglasses, the reflective blue lenses perched on her nose hiding whatever color her eyes were behind them. Her arms and legs were left largely uncovered by the tank top and jean shorts she was wearing, and her smile gleamed white at him from her dark face. “Guess that’ll be the first souvenir we buy,” she said, scanning him up and down. “You’d probably sunburn somethin’ awful if this was real, too.”

“Since this is not real, we cannot actually buy souvenirs,” he said, assessing his pale skin critically. Jazz was probably right about burning easily, though at least his full-length pants and short sleeved shirt meant he had less skin exposed to the sun’s harsh rays.

“Sure we can! The park’s set up so you can buy accessories for your hub room with game credits.” Jazz rocked on her heels, energy running too high to stand still. “We should get you one of those huge, obnoxious stuffed animals for your office.”

Prowl frowned. “That will not be necessary,” he said as he began walking toward the gate.

“Aww, you don’t think it would look good?” she teased, jogging after him to catch up with his long strides and grabbing his hand again. “Your office is so impersonal, it could use a little bit of character.”

“Why don’t we just put the souvenirs in your room instead?” Prowl offered. “You will get more joy out of looking at them anyway.”

“Trust me, I already cleared some space.”

There was already a good sized queue forming up in front of the ticket windows. Prowl supposed in the real world that would help regulate the flow of people into the park to prevent overcrowding; here it was more likely the result of server congestion due to it being the first night of the launch. He started to head to the end of the line, but Jazz pulled on his hand to lead him toward the turnstiles.

“I already got tickets, we can go right in,” she explained. “There was an option for an upgrade to reduce wait time.”

“Don’t things like that usually cost a lot of credits?”

“My account can take the hit, don’t worry about it. I’ve racked up so many points playin’ some of the other games I dunno what to buy with most of it. Anyway I didn’t want to waste time we could be doing and seeing things waiting in lines!”

“Spike frequently comments on the lines being a defining part of the experience,” Prowl said.

“Psshyeah, more like he complains about ‘em,” Jazz said drily. “I didn’t really feel the need for that level of authenticity.” 

As they passed through the entrance the sounds and smells became stronger. Prowl could now clearly pick out the smell of hot dogs and french fries as they walked by a row of food vendors, the more subtle cinnamon of the churros all but buried under the more powerful scents. Jazz did not slow down or seem interested in stopping at any of them though.

“Rides first, food later,” she said before he could ask. “Besides, I wanna look around and see what our options are before we pick something.”

“We could get a map at the kiosk there,” Prowl pointed out. “It might be prudent, given the size of the park.”

“You’re right, and we can get you a pair of sunglasses while we’re at it.”

After putting up with Jazz trying over a dozen different pairs of sunglasses on him and refusing to even consider the pair with novelty rims in the shape of the park skyline, Prowl selected a pair of yellow-tinted glasses and paid for them along with a map. He indulged her in that at least by getting the large fold out version with full illustrations of the rides and attractions rather than the cheaper utilitarian symbol map. They took a moment to sit on a nearby bench and review the different areas and paths on paper before setting off on foot, choosing to walk the perimeter of the park first.

There was a definite plan to the layout of the place, Prowl mused as they made their way slowly from a pirate-themed area to a section proudly declaring itself ‘The Wild Wild West.’ Everything flowed from one thing to the next, with shops strategically placed at the exits from the rides and vending machines with cold sodas and bottled water crowded anywhere there were benches for people to sit on and rest. He didn’t do much talking, preferring to observe quietly and listen to Jazz ramble on making comparisons to all the different things Carly and Spike had told them about.

“– and that one’s like the one Spike said he always wanted to ride as a kid but it has a height limit, which he said was unfair because it wasn’t a roller coaster and he thought only the big rides should be allowed to have height limits,” she said as they passed a small enclosure with a circle of cars spaced around a large wheel on a pivoting arm. The cars were on hinges so that when the ride was in operation and the arm raised the wheel perpendicular to the ground, as the wheel turned they swung out to hang in line with the spokes. There were indeed no small children on the ride, and Prowl noticed the height bar at the front of the switchback line outside the enclosure indicating how tall you had to be to ride when Jazz pointed to it.

“I doubt it’s based on fairness,” he said as they watched the arm lock in the fully vertical position, wheel spinning at full speed for a minute before slowly lowering back down. “The g-forces generated by the spinning of the wheel would be too strong for the smaller frame of a human child. It is a safety precaution.”

“Of course it is. Don’t mean the kids have to like it though.” Jazz looked at the ride speculatively. “Wanna try it? We’re tall enough to ride.”

“Only just in your case,” Prowl said, dodging away from a playful swipe at his head. “But yes, we can try it.”

The line wasn’t very long, so they didn’t bother trying to cut with their special pass, instead watching as two more rounds of people had their turns before being let in and directed to find a car. Prowl observed that some people chose to ride in a car by themselves but it was also possible for two people to share a car, one sitting in front of the other.

“Am I correct in assuming you would prefer to ride together?” he asked.

“Of course!” Jazz said. “You should probably get in first, whoever sits in front is gonna get smushed into the person in back when it starts.”

“Are you saying I would crush you?” he said, climbing into the car and straddling the seat.

“Well you are bigger than me!” came the reply as she hopped up and sat down in front of him, sliding back until she was leaning against his chest. “Besides, you make a comfy chair.” Prowl felt his cheeks redden slightly.

A pair of attendants came around to make sure everyone had secured their safety belts, which Prowl had missed entirely, and he flushed even harder as one of them reached in to fasten theirs and pulled it tight for them. Jazz shifted slightly, reaching back to grab his hands and link his arms around her waist as he door was closed and they were locked in for the ride.

“Ready?” she asked coyly, trailing slender fingers along his wrist. Prowl couldn’t come up with an answer. “Hold on tight.”

It wasn’t until after the ride had started and they hit full speed that he found his voice again. With the wind rushing in his face, his body pinned to the back of the seat and Jazz pressed tightly against him shouting in exhilaration, he finally let go and joined her.

***

Prowl seemed hesitant to walk away from the ride when it was over, so Jazz asked if he wanted to go again. They wound up riding a total of four times before he was willing to leave, and he still had a slight blush as they continued up the path.

“Looks like you got a bit of color on your face,” Jazz said nonchalantly, pausing at a vending machine to grab a soda. “Maybe you’re gettin’ a little sunburned after all.”

Prowl didn’t comment and Jazz decided not to push…for the moment. Carly had had a few suggestions for how to pace things, and after how well things had gone with the ride it was probably a good idea to continue following her advice.

“Here,” she said instead, pressing a cold can to his forehead. “Take one and cool off.”

“Ah!” Prowl exclaimed, jerking backward and grabbing the can away from her. “What was that for?”

“I thought you could use a little refreshment,” she said. “I saw the one Spike’s always drinking in the machine so I thought I’d give it a try, and that one was right next to it.” She took a drink from her already open beverage. “It’s not bad!”

He read the label. “I have seen Chip with this,” he said in recognition, maneuvering the tab to open it.

“Careful! It’s fizzy,” Jazz warned him.

“I never could get him to explain exactly what that meant when I asked him,” Prowl admitted before taking a cautious sip. His eyes widened and he coughed, careful not to spill any as he moved the can away and rubbed his nose with his free hand. “Well! That’s certainly interesting!”

“I like it. It tickles!”

“Of course you do.”

“Aw, you have to give it one more try before you can say you don’t!” Jazz laughed and took another swig. “Just don’t inhale as you go to drink it.” She watched as Prowl made a second good faith effort before shaking his head.

“I think I can be content to have experienced it without finishing it,” he said, handing it back to her.

“Suit yourself; we’ll just have to find something you do like!” Jazz finished her drink and tossed the can in the bin at the end of the bench. She took a sip from Prowl’s, curious to see how the taste differed. “Huh, mine was smoother and heavier than yours.” Still more than half full, the second can followed the first into the trash.

“Perhaps I would have preferred it then.”

“Not if the bubbles were what you didn’t like about it. Don’t worry,” she reassured him, “there’s plenty more options to choose from.”

“I have no doubt.”

They set off again, pausing at several other smaller attractions to try them out as they made their way again back around to the front of the park. Jazz whooped and hollered along with the other riders on each one, but Prowl did not let go again the way he had on the first ride, merely gasping quietly at sudden changes in direction. 

She was more restrained as well on the Whirligig though. A series of swings suspended on long chains from a wheel, it was a gentle ride that spun around smoothly without any vertical movement beyond rising up enough from the ground enough to allow foot clearance. Laughing, Jazz reached over to grab Prowl’s hand, pulling their swings closer together and grinning at the look of relaxation on his face. As the ride slowed and their feet once again touched the ground, she squeezed the fingers in hers before letting go to undo the harness. Their warmth lingered, warding off the chill from the look on the attendant’s face for their behavior on the ride.

“I don’t believe we were supposed to do that,” Prowl commented as Jazz took his hand again outside the enclosure. She grinned when he closed his hand around hers rather than pulling away.

“’S technically a safety hazard, don’t want the swings gettin’ tangled or people knockin’ into each other,” she said. “Guess they realized we weren’t really causing any trouble.”

“Still, it was a poor example to set the children.” Prowl was watching a familiar looking family getting settled into the swings, the mother helping the two squirming children with their safety belts while the father looked on helpfully without doing anything to assist. The mother swatted him as she finished and took a swing of her own, one parent on either side of the children to bracket them in. “They would be unruly and cause trouble if allowed to interfere with each other’s swings.”

Jazz shrugged before tugging Prowl toward another cluster of food stands. “Don’t worry about it, their parents have it all under control.” She swung around in front of Prowl, briefly grabbing his other hand to hold them both between them. “Hey. Don’t worry! It’s all a sim, the kids aren’t gonna get hurt.”

The lines that had been deepening on Prowl’s face softened. “You’re right of course. My apologies.”

“You always work so hard to keep track of and take care of everyone around you.”

“It does not feel like work to me,” he said, though it wasn’t really argumentative. “Besides, some of the people around me need to be watched closely.”

“And need to be taken care of?” Jazz laughed again before releasing Prowl’s hands and skipping forward toward a permanent booth with a sign above it advertizing doughnuts and funnel cake. “Well come on, let’s both take care of getting something to eat! And something for you to drink that doesn’t have bubbles in it.”

Eyeing the menu critically, Prowl considered his options while Jazz struck up a conversation with the salesperson. She seemed to be adding every single topping available to the confection she was ordering, but he thought that the plain cake doughnuts looked like enough of an adventure for him. After selecting an apple-flavored one with a glaze of nuts and what looked like chopped apple bits, he took the treat as the vendor handed it to him over the counter on a square of folded over waxed paper and turned to find a table while Jazz finished paying and waiting for them to finish constructing her mountain of sugar and grease.

She joined him a moment later, a plate piled so high it looked like the whole thing would slide right off the edge balanced in one hand and two bottles in the other. “Thanks for finding us a spot!” Jazz set the plate down just in time for the spoon stuck into the mass of ice cream on top of the fried pastry to slip and clatter to the table rather than to the ground. “Five second rule!” she exclaimed, snatching it back up and sticking it in her mouth before Prowl could stop her.

“Jazz! You know that isn’t a real rule!” he protested anyway as she made a show of licking the spoon thoroughly before jabbing it back into the ice cream more securely. 

“Is if I say so.” She pushed one of the two bottles across the table to him. “Here, see if you like this better than the soda. I just got water because I know I’m gonna want it with all this sugar, but you have got to give this a try. It’s a traditional beverage!”

“Traditional for what?” Prowl asked distractedly.

Jazz managed to keep a straight face for a full half second before breaking down and snickering. “For cops with doughnuts!” she crowed.

He looked down at the label. The words ‘Iced Coffee’ stared up at him innocently.

“…very funny, Jazz.” He deftly unscrewed the cap as she continued laughing, starting with a very careful sip before taking a longer drink. “I suppose if I’m going to be honest, I do have to admit that I like it.”

Jazz’s laughter calmed down after a moment and she opened her bottled water to take sips between bites of the slowly melting funnel cake a la mode. “If the stereotype fits!” she joked.

“At the risk of enforcing that stereotype, these are both good. They also go very well together.” Prowl conceded, trying a bite of the apple doughnut. “I doubt I am in any danger of consuming either in the quantities people seem to expect of police officers, however. The amount of sugar in these is appalling.”

“Pfff, ain’t got nothing on how much is in this,” Jazz said, angling her spoon to pick up a large bite with some of the fried pastry, ice cream, chocolate sauce, nuts and colored sprinkles all piled high together. “Wanna taste?”

Prowl opened his mouth and let her feed it to him to humor her, though he followed it quickly with another sip from his coffee. “I believe the expression is I just got a cavity.” He went back to his doughnut gratefully. “You can keep that, I’m all set.”

“Thanks! Think I will.” Jazz swiped a dollop of whipped cream from the side of the plate onto her finger and plopped it on Prowl’s nose. “’Cept for that.”

Sighing and grabbing a napkin, Prowl rubbed at the offending substance to remove it. “You did that just so you could take a screencap, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

“Maaaaaybe,” Jazz admitted. “I’ll give a copy to you later if you like. But not to anyone else.” She went back to demolishing her dessert, pausing just before popping the cherry from off the top into her mouth. “I’m not sharing you with anyone.”

Prowl felt a strange sense of kinship with the bizarre human confection as his face went as red as the cherry and he melted inside like the ice cream on top of it.

Once again Jazz said nothing, but mentally gave Carly a high five. There was no way Prowl wasn’t thinking of this as a date now. All that was left was to get him to say it out loud.

***

“Now there’s a fun way to cool off in a hurry!” Jazz said as she emerged from the exit of a log flume ride. They’d spent a fair amount of time browsing through shirts, mugs and trinkets after finishing their snacks in search of decorations for Prowl’s virtual office, and the sun overhead had gotten higher and hotter with each shop they investigated. By the time Jazz was willing to give up and declared that the only way they would find anything worth having was to win a prize in one of the games elsewhere in the park, both of them were uncomfortably warm.

It hadn’t been so uncomfortable that Prowl was willing to endure the discomfort of soaked clothing, however. He had let Jazz go alone on the water ride, content to cool off standing in the shade of one of the tall wooden roller coasters while he waited for her. Watching her now wringing out her hair and the tail of her tank top, which was completely plastered to her skin, he appreciated that he hadn’t compromised on his decision.

“I’m glad you found it enjoyable,” he said. “It certainly looked refreshing.”

“It was! Don’t see why you wouldn’t go on it if you thought it’d feel good,” she pouted. 

“Perhaps for a moment it would have, but I am not interested in spending the rest of the day walking around in waterlogged shoes like you.”

She stuck her tongue out at him briefly. “They’ll dry sooner than that,” she insisted as she smoothed back her hair and adjusted her slightly skewed sunglasses. “So what do you want to do next? We could go find a few games to try,” she said slyly.

Prowl frowned. “I do not need an ugly, over-sized stuffed animal.”

“That’s okay. They have hideous, ridiculously-sized ones too.”

Perhaps a distraction was in order. “I was watching the roller coaster while I was waiting for you,” Prowl said, blatantly changing the subject. “It looked like it might be interesting.” 

His companion regarded him suspiciously, crossing her arms and canting her hips as she tried to tell if he was being serious. It wasn’t a lie though; he really did like the look of the ride. The speed at which the train of cars zoomed by looked like it would generate a nice cooling breeze, and while the first hill was fairly tall the rest were more moderate as the track wound around on itself in three full circuits before returning to the station. Plus, as a wooden coaster it did not have any loops or corkscrews of some of the more fantastical metal creations dotting the park.

When he said as much, Jazz laughed and relaxed her posture. “Well, you’re always supposed to start with a warm-up coaster before you go for the really big ones,” she said, motioning toward the line. “Normal wait time for this one’s over an hour though. How about we use that access pass to speed things along?”

“It doesn’t look like that will bypass the line entirely,” Prowl said, surveying the crowd. There was a teenage girl in a park hat and uniform standing off to one side, hooking and unhooking the rope across the VIP entrance for guests who had bought the same upgrade that Jazz had. The shorter path it led to intersected with the main line on the switchback just ahead of the stairs leading up to the station.

“No, but it’ll get us to within fifteen minutes of getting on the ride,” Jazz said. “Let’s go!”

He hadn’t noticed before, but once they took their place Prowl saw that there were screens playing cartoons positioned on the poles supporting the awnings over the line. There were also speakers disguised as rocks along the path, though they were playing separate music from the cartoon’s soundtrack. Without even looking he knew Jazz was dancing in place listening to it.

“Can’t you wait patiently?” he asked, but he was more amused than irritated.

“This is waitin’ patiently!” she replied grabbing his hand and holding it above her head. “Spin me!”

Smiling indulgently Prowl kept his arm raised for her to twirl once before he lowered it. “Don’t disturb the others in the line, Jazz.”

“Aww.” She made a face at him but didn’t argue. Instead she began quietly singing along with the music playing from the speaker-rocks, and Prowl didn’t realize he’d been lost listening to the sound until she broke off and tapped his shoulder. “Time to choose – you want to sit in the front or the back?”

Sure enough they were at the point the needed to select which car they wanted to ride in. “How do people normally decide?” he asked.

“Carly likes the front so she can see where the track’s going and because it doesn’t whip you around corners as hard. Spike likes the back because you get better airtime over the hills.”

“If they like opposite ends of the train, how do they ride together?” They must compromise and take turns, Prowl thought, and Jazz’s nod confirmed it as she spoke again.

“They take turns deciding. There’s no bad seats, it’s just personal preference.”

He considered for a moment. “Do you have a preference?”

“How could I? It’s my first time too.” Jazz smiled. “Let’s try the front then. Carly’s advice has all been good so far, after all.”

“Why? What other advice did she give you?”

“Tell you later.”

When it was their turn to board Prowl slid into the seat next to Jazz and waited for her to pull the lap bar down over their legs. The car was narrow and their thighs were brushing together in the middle. Jazz bumped her knee into Prowl’s, grinning mischievously, but Prowl frowned.

“What is it?” Jazz asked.

“Your shorts are still wet from that water ride.”

She laughed. “You’ll survive.”

A light above the track turned green and a recording announced “Enjoy your ride!” as the train jerked forward, the motion far from smooth as the chain pulled them forward and around a curve away from the station to begin climbing the first hill. Prowl gripped the lap bar tightly, suddenly nervous.

“Is it too late to back out?” he said in an attempt to joke to keep himself from feeling like the chain was going to slip and the train was going to fall back and away from the track as they lurched higher and higher.

Jazz slid her hand over his. “You’ll survive,” she repeated softly.

They made their way inexorably to the top and for one terrible moment hung there, frozen. Jazz let go and raised her hands above her head as gravity slowly pulled them past the tipping point. “WooooHOOOOOOO!”

And then they were falling. Prowl opened his mouth but found he could not make a sound, the pressure of the wind in his face and the intensity of it all too much to vocalize. They reached the bottom of the first hill before he could even begin to adjust and suddenly they were flying up and over the next. There was a moment of weightless ecstasy as they crested it before they were plummeting once more, hurtling forward to repeat the process again and again.

At some points the track banked sharply, tilting them sideways so it felt like they might tip out of the car. When they angled to the right Jazz let herself slide and fall against Prowl, laughing, but Prowl braced himself to keep from crushing her whenever they angled left. Jazz kept her arms in the air the whole time, even as they zoomed through a gap in the support structure that looked so low he feared she’d smack into it and break her wrists. They cleared it with plenty of room though, and the steep pitch of the next hill drove all thought of it from Prowl’s mind along with the breath from his lungs.

Jazz continued to shout in his ear the entire way too, her joyful yells only diminishing in volume as, with one final turn and one last small rise, the train pulled onto the straightway heading back to the station and the brakes caught them. “That was fantastic!” she crowed as they stopped and the chain reengaged to pull them slowly forward. “Next time we try the back of the train!”

They train lined back up with the platform by inches until they came to a complete stop. Jazz had to help Prowl peel his fingers off the lap bar before they could lift it, and his legs were shaking slightly as they climbed out of the car and onto the platform. “Could we sit down for a moment?” he asked, not bothering to wait for an answer before grabbing the first bench in sight and collapsing onto it.

Jazz looked at him, concerned. “You okay Prowler? Was it too much?”

“Just…a lot to process,” he said.

“We don’t have to go again if you don’t want to,” Jazz said quickly, but Prowl held up a hand to forestall her. 

“I did not say that.” He took several deep breaths, leaning his head back to rest on the back of the bench. “I am simply in need of a moment to think.” It had all gone by so fast that Prowl was having a little trouble sorting out his reactions as he replayed the experience in his mind. It had felt terrifying, out of control, but also – freeing. It had felt freeing. It had felt like flying. And he wanted to do it again. Would that feeling of weightlessness be even better in a different seat?

With one last deep breath he stood again, swaying only slightly as he got his legs beneath him. “I agree. Next time we sit in the back.”

Jazz’s smile lit up her whole face. “You got it.”

***

"I shoulda known better than to take you on at bumper cars," Jazz said, biting off another piece of the corndog she'd just bought. She’d gotten ketchup and mustard for dipping it and the side of fries in to combat the appetite they’d worked up and was trying alternating tastes of both to decide which she liked better. So far she was leaning toward the ketchup. Prowl had been intrigued by the smell of the barbecue sauce and was now enjoying some with his corndog and garlic parmesan fries. "You didn't have to take it so seriously! I've got whiplash!"

"If you didn't get whiplash on the Cyclone I hardly think you could have gotten it from the bumper cars."

After riding the wooden coaster several more times Prowl had been willing to move up to some of the more intense ones. He still tensed up each time on the first hill - he kept worrying about the chain breaking or getting stuck - but it was clearly worth it to him for the rest of the ride. The last one they'd ridden before discovering the bumper cars had been the Cyclone, a blue and fuchsia metal monstrosity with seven loops and two corkscrews in it where the train was suspended from the bottom of the track rather than sitting on top of it.

Jazz snorted. "You know what I mean. That was some pretty aggressive driving back there."

Prowl looked up briefly from trying to keep the barbecue sauce from dripping and making a mess of his shirt. He'd folded his sunglasses and hung them on his shirt collar earlier and there was already a smear of the sticky stuff on one of the lenses. "It felt very similar to chasing you or Sideswipe down the halls of the Ark," he admitted. "It was somewhat therapeutic not having to catch you and being able to just run into you instead."

"Well you sure did that! You were slamming into me over and over!" Jazz laughed. "Glad it made you feel better!"

"I would have felt badly if you had truly been injured," Prowl said. "But yes, it did feel good." He nodded at her selection of condiments. "Have you tried them both together? Chip says they are better in combination."

"Not yet," Jazz answered. "Didn't wanna risk cross-contamination before I'd tried 'em both separate." She shook the tiny containers. "Maybe I should ask for some more, there's not much left and I want to try some with the fries too."

"Could you ask for more of mine as well?" Prowl asked hopefully.

"Sure." Jazz set her corndog down on the plate and stood. "And I think I'll grab us some more napkins while I'm at it," she said, reaching over and brushing Prowl's lip to wipe away a drop of barbecue sauce. "Since you seem to be making such a mess." He flushed as she walked away licking her thumb. "Mmm! Hey, this one's good too."

They finished their meal after she returned with the replenished sauce cups and then disposed of the trash. Prowl was wetting a few napkins at a water fountain to wipe down his fingers and clean his sunglasses as Jazz consulted their map.

"We've walked around the whole park now," she said, tracing their route with a painted nail. "Did you want to go on more rides? Or we could start heading toward the front of the park. There're supposed to be fireworks in a little while." 

She glanced up at the sky, which had just begun to darken while they were eating. Prowl finished with his sunglasses and looked up at the dusk sky as well before replacing them on his shirt instead of on his nose. "It's getting cooler with the sun going down. Some of those rides might be a bit chilly at the top with all that wind."

"You're probably right," Jazz said, rubbing her bare arms at the thought. "Might not be as bad for you but I don't think I'm wearing enough."

"We could find you a sweater," Prowl offered. "You could wear it now and put it up on the wall in your hub room later like Spike does with his sports jerseys."

"Yeah, let's do that! I don't have all the souvenirs I wanted yet anyway." Jazz grinned wickedly. "There's a bunch of those skill games next to the nearest apparel stand," she said, waving the map at him. "Looks like we'll be able to get you one of those stuffed animals after all!" 

"No, I don't want – Jazz!" Prowl scrambled to toss the wet napkins in the trash as she took off laughing at him. She took advantage of the curved path and the fact that there were people on it to compensate for her shorter legs. Prowl was fast, but Jazz was more agile, even using a human avatar. Several people shouted in surprise as they darted past and one startled child dropped a nearly empty bag of popcorn when they turned the final corner into the row of games. Prowl hesitated momentarily, concerned, but the child just laughed and clapped at them. Jazz used the precious seconds it cost him to sprint over to the booth with the most garish prizes she could see and purchase a round before he could catch up.

Recognizing defeat, Prowl stopped running and walked the rest of the way over more sedately and crossed his arms in mild frustration. “I really don’t want one of those,” he said, surveying the options with distaste. “Any of those.”

“Sorry, but it’s in the rules,” Jazz told him.

Prowl’s expression looked like he was fighting an internal battle over whether he should ask or not. He lost. “What rules?” he sighed.

Jazz smiled. “The ones that say when you go to the fair you have to win a prize for your date!”

“What if it isn’t a date?” he asked. For a split second Jazz wanted to strangle him – how much longer was he going to keep acting like that?! It must have shown because Prowl’s expression faltered. “I meant that to be a joke,” he said guiltily.

Jazz realized she’d balled her hands into fists and consciously relaxed them. “What does that mean? Does that mean you think this is all a joke?” she asked, sounding a bit angrier than she meant to.

“It means,” Prowl said, stepping forward and pulling her resisting body into an embrace, “that I am sorry for upsetting you.” He held her for a moment before pulling back to look at her face. “Do the rules say which person is supposed to win the prize?”

“Some people have opinions about that, but it doesn’t really matter,” Jazz said. “Why? You gonna win somethin’ to make it up to me?”

“Actually, since I do believe in following the rules, I thought I would win a prize for my date.” Prowl smiled weakly. “Assuming I still have one, that is?”

Overjoyed, Jazz tugged him back into the hug, crushing the air out of him as she squeezed him. “Of course you do!” She breathed happily. “I was starting to think you really didn’t want it to be a date and that you were upset with me about it! I just wanted to share this with you and have it be special.”

“It is special. Thank you.” His stiffened as Jazz continued to cling to him. “But you need to let me go.”

“Let you go? I only just got you!” she protested. 

“You have to for me to be able to play the game,” he pointed out.

Reluctantly Jazz released him. “Fine, but you have to win one of the big ones.”

“I’m sure I can manage,” he said, stepping up to the counter to play the round Jazz had already bought. “Work on deciding which one you want and let me concentrate.”

***

Standing with one arm in Prowl’s and the other wrapped partway around an enormous stuffed penguin almost as tall as she was, Jazz felt perfectly content. The simulated day was almost over and the night was about to end, but there was still just enough time left before they had to wake from recharge for this.

It was past dusk now, the first stars beginning to twinkle into view in the dome of the sky above them. Jazz watched as more appeared, shivering slightly in the cool night air and snuggling closer to Prowl as they waited their turn to board the Ferris wheel.

“We forgot to get you that sweater,” Prowl said apologetically.

“Don’t even worry about it,” Jazz said, shuffling the giant plush nightmare around so she could use it to block the breeze. “I got my two black and whites. I’m good.”

“Is that really why you chose it?” Once Prowl had secured the requisite score at the shooting gallery he had kept his word and let Jazz take her pick of the top tier prizes. She’d been going back and forth between a pink and orange sparkly octopus and an acid green and yellow badger and Prowl had been about to despair of her ever making up her mind when she’d spotted the penguin. At the time he’d been too grateful to see the others get rejected to ask about her reasoning. The octopus would have been impossible to carry with all its legs trailing everywhere and the badger had been physically painful to look at.

“Of course it is!” Jazz smiled. “I wanted to have something to remind me of you.”

“And how exactly does that thing remind you of me?”

“I told you, he’s black and white! Plus he’s got big blue eyes and he has wings but he can’t fly.” Jazz flipped one of the wings to illustrate. Prowl just rolled his eyes.

The Ferris wheel rotated so that the next group of cars was in position to load passengers. Once the previous occupants had finished exiting, Jazz and Prowl were beckoned forward to climb into one of the now-empty cars.

“You’re smiling again,” Prowl noted as they settled in, himself on the far edge of the seat with Jazz sandwiched between him and the penguin. The young man who came by for the safety check eyed it with a mix of trepidation and amusement, then shrugged and fastened all three of them in without comment. Jazz was very glad he hadn’t insisted she leave it with him, it really was helping keep her warm.

“Of course I’m smiling,” she said after the wheel shifted another partial turn and they loaded more people. “I just had a wonderful day with my Prowler all to myself.” She sighed happily. “And now we’re here on a Ferris wheel at night, waiting for the fireworks to start.”

“Is there some special significance to this that I am unaware of?” Prowl asked. “Or is it just another of Carly’s suggestions?”

“Hey, she gave me some great advice!” Jazz huffed. “Her suggestions were all very helpful.” She turned to Prowl and reached around him, lacing her fingers behind his back and leaning against his chest. “You liked them, you just didn’t know it at the time.”

“Then I should continue to trust you both, I suppose.” Prowl dipped his head down to rest his forehead against Jazz’s. “Did she have a suggestion about how we should end the day?”

The next turn brought them up even higher off the ground. Jazz smiled. “Maybe.”

Prowl held still at first as Jazz tilted her face oh-so-slowly, her smooth cheek sliding along his jaw until her lips met his. Her arms stayed looped around him, and as she pressed softly against him Prowl raised one of his hands to comb through her hair and cup the back of her neck, drawing her closer. His other hand remained curled around the metal edge of the car, knuckles white as he held on tighter than he had on any other ride they’d gone on that day.

Jazz broke the kiss a few seconds later, pulling back the barest fraction of an inch. “She said the best way to end a date was with a kiss at the top of the Ferris wheel,” she whispered. “She was right.”

They moved to close the distance between them as one, molding against each other like they would never come apart. Jazz marveled at how well her human body fit against Prowl’s, how very warm and strong he was, as a quiet sound escaped her and into his mouth. Prowl parted his lips to lick gently at hers in response. He moved his hand from behind her head around the side of her neck, tickling her ear with his fingers and tucking his thumb under her jaw so he could better direct their movements. Her chest heaved as her breathing quickened and she struggled to draw in short, rapid breaths through her nose rather than end the kiss for something as trivial as air.

They had kissed many times before, but something about this one felt intense and intimate in a way other kisses they’d shared never had. Alone at the top of the world but for each other, they were flying, they were falling, they were standing completely still, and Jazz wished the night could last forever.

Neither of them was watching the sky, but they didn’t miss the fireworks.


End file.
